By Paul Nicholson
June 7 – The final Premier League TV rights packages for the UK have been awarded with Amazon swooping in with a groundbreaking deal that breaks Sky and BT’s grip on the broadcast of live games in the UK.
May 30 – Spain’s Mediapro has gatecrashed the TV rights party in France by snapping up key broadcast packages for Ligue 1 as total fees for the rights sale hit €1.15 billion. Canal Plus ended up with no rights in this round of bidding, in what is a major setback for the broadcaster.
May 30 – The Qatar-based beIN Media Group, the biggest sports broadcaster in the region, has urged FIFA to take legal action against what it called pirate broadcasters in Saudi Arabia ahead of the World Cup.
May 16 – ESPN has signed a content deal with German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich to bring club content to the broadcaster’s digital and linear networks in the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.
March 5 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) now has 28 of its member associations using its streaming platform that debuted in July 2016 in Bhutan.
February 21 – Agent Trump will be delighted, US broadcaster FOX Sports has unveiled a World Cup 2018 schedule of more live broadcasts than ever before and including studio coverage from the heart of the iron fist of democracy in Moscow’s Red Square.
February 7 – Italy’s Serie A has accepted Spanish’s MediaPro offer for rights to broadcast matches for the 2018-21 seasons at just above €1.05 billion.
January 31 – The first of the Premier League’s new domestic TV deals has been announced with the BBC agreeing a £211.5 million deal, securing its iconic Match of the Day highlights show.
January 29 – Italy’s Serie A is in talks with Spain’s Mediapro on a €950 million deal for the 2018-2021 seasons. This follows a breakdown in discussion with Sky Italia who had not met the €1.05 billion minimum set by the league’s advisor Infront.
January 24 – Sports broadcaster Eleven Sports secured exclusive TV rights in Belgium for a host of major international matches, reasserting its market position in the Belgian TV landscape.
December 11 – The Premier League’s tender for its domestic broadcast rights package for 2019-22 has seen the league boost the number of packages available to seven with a total of 200 live games (up from 168).
By Samindra Kunti
November 11 – Argentinian giants Boca Juniors have agreed a content partnership with Netflix. The online streaming service will make a four-part documentary series which will be released in 2018.
By David Owen
October 24 – The new UEFA Nations League is set to enhance the value of European international football matches, according to Guy-Laurent Epstein, the European football body’s marketing director.
October 19 – Barcelona are the latest of Europe’s giant clubs to announce a behind-the-scenes TV show with a media partner. The club and US streaming service Verizon go90 have announced the launch of Inside Barça which will air weekly.
October 16 – Facebook have one, Netflix announced they are making one, and now Amazon Prime are joining the US OTT broadcast entry into fly-on-the-wall football docuseries with a Manchester City biopic.